


Blood and water

by SayNevermore



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV, Crossover, Family Fluff, Gen, Prompto and Cloud are brothers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-03
Updated: 2017-04-03
Packaged: 2018-10-14 12:53:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10536861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SayNevermore/pseuds/SayNevermore
Summary: Prompto was adopted when he was very young by a family in Lucis... along with another boy. Cloud took care of him as he was growing up.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So this is all inspired from the Loonytwin's great art from juvenile-reactor that you can see here http://juvenile-reactor.tumblr.com/post/158307278554/vii-xv and loonytwin on twitter who offered the idea that Cloud might be Prompto's older brother...... and I had to write that.  
> So, uh, my brain only has two settings: "first thing that comes to my mind" or "5 months worth of worldbuilding". This is the result of the first one, un-beta'd, and maybe when you least expect it you will get the second one too.  
> Enjoy <3

The camera appeared on the dinner table for the start of the school year. It was a very small thing, its corners already damaged, the small screen at the back already scraped. Clearly a relic from another time, and another owner. Prompto looked at it for a few minutes before going to his room. He wasn’t supposed to touch what wasn’t his, and Cloud was particularly insistent on the important of not touching his stuff. That meant twice more reasons for Prompto to leave the object alone.

He was entering his last year of primary school. Cloud was in secondary cycle already and after school he was also doing the groceries and hanging out outside to help the neighbours and get a little bit of money. Cloud knew how to make omelets, or pasta, or when he had time, fried fish. The rest of the time, he would come back home with sandwiches or take-away food. He was always late, coming back way after Prompto had finished his homework and sometimes after he fell asleep. Their parents would leave them an envelope full of money every month, sometimes they would give it to them in person, sometimes they would just send it by mail. Cloud was in charge of its content. Prompto has to wait for him to bring food, wait for him to bring him to the doctor, wait for him to buy him new notebooks for school, new pants, new glasses. Because of this, Prompto would always scrupulously obey every rule that Cloud could edict. It was his way of making his brother’s life easier.

This day, Cloud went home at 10pm. Prompto had emptied a bag of chips to calm his growling stomach, and left greasy fingerprints at the bottom of his homework. The camera was taunting him from the other side of the dinner table, like a treasure at the bottom of a cave, but he had not touched it. It was still in the same position. Cloud closed the door behind him, his hand holding a paper bag from the fast-food nearby. The warm meal immediately spread its salty fragrance all over the living room. Prompto’s stomach started growling again.

“You didn’t take it?”

Prompto blinked, then pushed his glasses on his nose. Cloud gestured at the camera with his chin. 

“Take what? Of course not!”

“You can. It’s yours. Your gift.”

The paper bag hit the table with a small sound. Prompto frowned. A gift to him? Why would he get a gift ? Their parent’s money was for their basic needs, not luxury. Sometimes their parents would offer them gifts when they visited them, but that was all. The two boys had spend enough time drooling over the windows of toys stores, knowing they couldn’t afford them. Gifts were always out of the question.

“But it’s… it’s old,” Prompto protested with a small gesture towards the object. He would touch it from this distance, but he still didn’t want to take the risk.

Cloud’s face crunched.

“I found it like this. If you don’t want it I can take it back.”

“No!”

The scream, high-pitched and scandalized, escaped Prompto’s mouth faster than he thought. He couldn’t hide it anymore. He grew attached with the camera just from looking at it.

Cloud cracked a smile.

 

Prompto took twelve pictures on his first day, then realized that the memory card slot was empty and the internal memory was already full.

One week later, Cloud left a brand new memory card for him.

 

* * *

 

Their parents were always busy. Prompto had a very vivid memory of his mother, with her long, dark hair and her little snub nose. He was five years old and she was explaining to him where he came from, and what he was doing here with his brother. She was explaining why and how they had been saved, by someone from Nifflheim, who had then contacted their parents. They had a very important job to do. There were dozens of other children like them, thousands of complicated situations to solve every month. Prompto had to understand that he was in no way an isolated incident. So he had to accept to let his parents leave for long periods of time, while they were trying to save other little boys like him. Other children bred in tanks. Cloud was there to watch over him and the house, and because of that, Prompto must always obey Cloud.

The rules were actually very simple. He was not allowed to go out at night, they had to be careful about the money, and if any adult ever asked where their parents were, they had to answer that they were both working very late for the crown.

 

Another rule was added later, saying: no pets allowed.

 

The dog manifested itself in Prompto’s life on a Wednesday evening. He was just going back to his house after school, and he stopped to take a picture of the little thing, when he noticed that she was wounded.

Prompto had always wanted a dog.

Cloud came home at 8pm. Cloud was allowed to stay outside at night because he was searching for more money, which could be used on things like movies and cameras and candy, sometimes. He was greeted by a tiny beige dog who wouldn’t stay in one place, and the surprised look of the boy made Prompto shrink on its chair.

Somehow, it was obvious to him that the rule about the pets already existed, even if it had never been pronounced out loud by an actual adult. But during the time Prompto had taken care of the wounded animal, he has started to hope there was some exception he could use to his advantage.

“We can’t keep it,” Cloud said with a slightly horrified look. He seemed to try very hard to not make his brother cry, but the truth needed to be said. The little ball of fluff flailed between them, apparently very happy to be the center of attention, but it couldn’t stay.

“But she is hurt!” Prompto exclaimed.

“Maybe we can take her to the vet?”

“It will cost a lot. I know it costs a lot. Tina, in my class, she…”

“Yeah, but we need to find something.”

“And look, she’s got a collar. She has a owner somewhere. We could just wait until she’s getting better, don’t you think?”

Cloud’s face reflected his embarrassment. Prompto had never, ever, tried to discuss a decision taken by his brother. It was not acceptable, just like cutting a line or being rude to a teacher, something his child brain could not even conceive. But there was a weakness, a loophole in his brother’s attitude, and the sight of the happy dog encouraged Prompto to push further. At best, he would only obtain a few days with the pet, but it was still something else than solitude and silence, Cloud was always back so late, Cloud was playing the adult while Prompto was a kid, and he didn’t have any friends because he couldn’t talk about his family to anyone. A dog wouldn’t care if he was from Nifflheim.

Cloud sighed.

“Okay. But you take care of it.”

And so Prompto ran home the next day after school, to change the bandage he had made for Chibi with an old t-shirt. He washed her to make sure the wound wouldn’t get infected, then found her something to eat and a bowl to drink in. Cloud had not wanted to participate in the activity of most importance that was naming the dog, but he did help making little posters with a picture Prompto had taken, with their phone numer at the bottom. He also went home sooner for the next three days, to help his brother with the housechores and to cook them something edible while Prompto was cutting the meat for Chibi.

Chibi disappeared before they even had time to put up the posters.

"Maybe she'll come back," Cloud said in an attempt to cheer his brother up after one hour of fruitless search. "Maybe she found her owner again. There's your name on the bandage. Maybe they'll come by here to see you."

It didn't really cheer Prompto up, but at least he managed to put himself to sleep.

 

Seven days later, he received a letter.

The letters from their parents were always addressed to Cloud. Prompot had never, ever received a letter for himself.

Cloud came home at nine with kebabs and Prompto practically shoved the envelope in his eye.

“Chibi’s owner..! It’s the Oracle! Cloud, I got a letter from the Oracle!”

The information seemed to take its time to reach Cloud’s brain, but then he opened his eyes wide, and they glowed more than Prompto had ever seen them glowing. He reached over and ruffled Prompto’s hair.

“Well, you’re royalty now!”

 

These words were ringing in Prompto’s head as he tried to introduce himself to Noctis the next day.

Cloud came home at eight with hamburgers. Prompto cast a sad look at the greasy paper enveloping it.

“What?” Cloud asked. “You don’t want it?”

“Cloud… you think I’m fat?”

Cloud raised his eyebrows. He was spending all his time running around, searching for medication, food, washing powder, new shoes for Prompto, new shoes for himself. He was growing so fast. He was almost fifteen years old and never had the time to gain any weight, even if he always ate the same things as Prompto. Their size difference suddenly seemed to the younger boy as terribly obvious and despairing.

“Why are you asking this all of a sudden?” Cloud asked after a few seconds. “Did someone bully you?”

Prompto bit his lower lip and Cloud seemed to think he was admitting it. “Who was it?”

“No, it’s not like that…”

“So what? Tell me?”

Prompto started moving its legs under the table.

“I’ve… met the prince today…”

Cloud’s lips became a thin line.

“You… probably shouldn’t approach the prince. I mean, you know, we’re… it’s not safe.”

“Yeah, well, no risk anything happens anyway.”

It’s probably the brutality in the tone that convinced Cloud to listen to his brother.

 

* * *

 

The first time Cloud brought Prompto to his morning run he thought his lungs were going to catch on fire. They barely made it to the park near their house.

Cloud has to change his planning so he could find the time to run with Prompto. He wasn’t exactly better than him; he only had a little bit more endurance and was more careful about his body. Prompto would probably just have brought himself to the point of exhaustion. But Cloud found a doctor to ask for advice, and learned to prepare more balanced meals. He gave Prompto dozens of tips of all kinds ot make the experience more enjoyable. Without his brother cheering him up, Prompto would probably have dropped it and decided to grieve his aborted friendship with the prince of Lucis.

And Cloud has an incredible patience. Prompto went through all his years of junior high school, trying to maintain his test results above the water and learning to adapt to the daily dose of exercice his brother had prepared for him, and Cloud never stopped encouraging him. Cloud was turning into an adult, his body shape changing and gaining muscle. His old friends, who mocked his sick look when he was thirteen, no longer laughed at him. When they were both running – it was more and more rare now that Cloud had more work to do and Prompto was able to stick to his routine alone – the shape of his shoulders was enough to give Prompto the courage to finish his run. He would then fall on the floor and Cloud had to drag himon his feet and force him to stretch out so he wouldn’t feel sore.

Prompto was taking pictures so he would follow the evolution of his body, but it was the feeling of his brother elbowing him in the ribs when they were fighting for the bathroom that really helped him notice the difference.

He has a bruise on his side the day he took his last picture. He put the camera away, took a deep breath, then got dressed for high school.

 

Prompto wasn't very comfortable with people in general. He was used to eating alone, doing his homework alone, finding distractions alone. He had learned over the years to carefully hide nay compromising information about himself and where he came from, and because he was always afraid to say something by accident, he had learned to withhold everything about himself. Everything he did, it was with Cloud’s consent and under his supervision. They had never really decided this, it was just easier for them when they were kids and it had stuck with them.

When Prompto started running, he also learned to appear more open and sympathetic. He had tried to look more like his brother, although Cloud was only open and sympathetic with him and only ever smiled in his presence.

And now for the first time, Prompto was going to actually make a friend. And not any friend. The prince of Lucis, nothing less.

Part of him wanted to listen to Cloud’s careful warnings. The prince of Lucis! What would happen if he discovered who Prompto was? He wasn’t an enemy of the crown, at fifteen he didn’t have a television and his political opinions were barely formed. The only things he knew about the world were that someone from Nifflheim had got him out of the tube he was supposed to grow in, and given him and his brother to a new family that he barely knew anyway, because his parents were always trying to save other boys like him from the tentacular monster that was the empire. He was a mess, and Noctis…

Well, Noctis was cool.

Prompto had three years to wonder how he could introduce himself to the prince of Lucis, and during these three years he had forgotten all of them. But he was royalty, right? His brother’s words were still ringing in his ears when he approached his soon to be friend.

"Hey there! Prince Noctis!"

He offered him the brightest smile he had in stock.

"I'm Prompto! Nice to meet you!"

The lack of reaction from Noctis almost destroyed his determination on the spot. He must have looked stupid, introducing himself like that to someone that important. There were probably rules for this, that he had completely ignored. The prince looked up and down at him without expressing anything and Prompto wished for the ground to open beneath his feet and swallow his tiny, scrawny silhouette, Noctis was so cute next to him, large shoulders and delicate face and he probably found him ugly uglyuglyugl-

"Don't I know you?"

He has recognized him.

He remembered him.

This was the best day of Prompto's entire life.

 

“I still can’t believe he recognized me.”

Cloud was only pretending to fall asleep in the armchair while Prompto was wildly gesticulating. The smirk was betraying him.

“That’s crazy! We talked only once three years ago and I was… well, I was disgusting back then.”

This made his older brother stand up and hit him with a cushion.

“Stop that!” Prompto protested. “It’s true.”

“It’s not.”

“It is! I was so sad. And now we’ve talked videogames and he likes the same things as me and he wants to show me an arcade room in town? I just can’t believe it.”

“You’re so frustrating. When I was your age…”

“My age… stop talking like you’re old.”

“ _When I was your age_ , I was just trying to impress girls, and you? You’re going straight from nothing to befriending the fucking prince. Look at you.”

“It’s not like that!”

“When do I have to start calling you Highness? Do I wait for your wedding?”

“Oh, stop it!”

 

* * *

 

It rapidly appeared that befriending Noctis was not presenting a big risk for Prompto. From a certain perspective, Noctis was a lot like Cloud. He was quiet, he was calm, he liked it when they were not many people around him or when he could focus on a task and forget his surroundings. Prompto was doing most of the talking and Noctis only rarely asked questions, so Prompto could keep his story to himself.

It didn’t go as smoothly with Ignis. Ignis was more suspicious, more inquisitive, but also more easily worried and more alert. But he was doing all the cooking; Prompto couldn’t avoid the discussion about his weight and his delicate stomach and it served as a distraction from more intimate subjects. Sometimes, he could still see Ignis’ gaze turn to the bracelets he was constantly wearing, but he seemed to conclude the wrong things about what it was supposed to hide, and Prompto had decided to just let him imagine things.

The first person to know about his brother was Cor.

Apparently, if he was to follow Noctis on the road he had to learn the basics of combat, and there was no other solution than to assign him a private tutor for a few days. Cor Leonis, the Immortal, probably had better things to do, and Prompro tried to not waste his time by being extra careful, but he would always end up on his ass, with his body burning. It felt like learning to run, all over again. And Cor Leonis made him try different weapons, during what seemed like an eternity, but was probably closer to a few hours. Then he crossed his arms and looked down at him.

“You’ve been training before,” he said.

And Prompto thought this was the end of his miserable life as a Nifflheim fugitive, he was going to get assassinated right on the spot by the Immortal, who had seen right through the terrible shenanigans he had orchestrated against the crown – the ones he had never even thought about but was probably going to be accused of when they would find his corpse…

All Cloud had done was teach him a few moves, just in case he was found one day. It was part of their routine. Cloud himself had learned them from a soldier he knew, who had taught him because he wanted to find a job as a crownsguard. They had been so discreet all these years, but of course Cor Leonis would notice something right away…

“It’s good. You’re good at this.”

Wait. Did Cor Leonis just compliment him?

Impossible.

“Where did you learn this?”

This had to be a trap, a way to make him reveal his accomplices, but when Cor started frowning because Prompto was to slow to answer, he bursted out:

“Huh, my brother! He taught me… a few things.”

“Is he in the crownsguard?”

“Huh… not yet… he’s trying to be accepted…”

Cor nodded with an approving look. An approving look. That was somehow tougher to take than his training.

“You’ll give me his name. Maybe I can do something for him.”

Now Cloud was going to have a heart attack.

 

To be completely honest, Cloud had taken the news about his departure with a lot of caution. He was more and more tired and prickly these days, because he kept failing the tests to enter the guard. Most of the time, Prompto and him would just pass each other in the house in the morning and the evening and nothing else. They didn’t need each other anymore, it wasn’t a problem. But the idea of leaving, of being far away from each other, it was all new. And leaving Insomnia with the prince? How would Prompto hide his tattoo if they planned on camping under the stars, sleeping in the same tent? How would his new friends react if they found out about him when they were on the road? Prompto knew Cloud was only worried about him, but he couldn’t help feeling a little annoyed by his behaviour. Noctis was his best friend now, and he had never thought he could go on a trip with his friends one day. And he was about to meet Lunafreya! The one that was the starting point of it all. Why couldn’t Cloud show a little more enthusiasm? What could possibly go wrong?

Prompto looked at the newspaper Ignis had brought, then he looked at the smoking ruins of Insomnia while Nif ships flew over it, then he saw Noctis cry, saw Gladio try to contact his family, and he realized that his friends had no idea what the empire had just took him. He couldn’t mention it now. A secret brother, revealed just as the kingdom was falling under enemy’s fire? Cloud was right, so many things could go wrong. And Prompto’s phone was desperately silent, no message, no sign of life. His texts wouldn’t send. The radio kept on saying that all the castle staff had died, but Prompto didn’t even know if Cor had kept his word and talked to Cloud. Was he included in “castle staff”? Was he among the refugees? Had he died protecting the king? Had he died as a civilian, without any other way to identify him than the tattoo on his wrist? What if they thought he was just a magitech, killed during the assault? How would the news of his death come to Prompto’s ears?

He didn’t dare ask the marshall when they met him. He couldn’t know what was going though Cor’s head, no way to know if he was aware of all of Prompto’s efforts to keep his life a secret. Cor didn’t mention his brother, and he didn’t either. Cor didn’t ask any questions. Maybe Cor knew, or maybe he didn’t know anything, and they couldn’t stay alone together long enough to have such a conversation.

And then Cor was gone, and the fate of the kingdom rested on Noctis’ shoulders, and Prompto was too tired to think further than the next bath and bed. And suddenly, his phone vibrated in his pocket.

The name on the screen made him freeze.

The wave of relief shook him so hard he was trembling when he unlocked the phone.

"Not dead. Signal back it seems? They say the prince is dead. Please answer this."

They all had decided to not let nayone know the prince was alive, and Gladio was extremely careful when he contacted the hunters. But as his friends were making their way back to the car, Prompto stopped walking and quickly typed an answer.

"Not dead either. Where are you?"

He ran to catch them up and waited in the car for an answer.

"Still inside, w/ a few friends. Don't come home. Stay safe."

And Prompot raised his eyes at Gladio, who was looking at the landscape; Ignis, eyes on the road; Noctis, head down and looking at his knees. And he thought that staying safe was going to be difficult, but he had his friends, his second family, and he had the prince on his side.

So he sent:

"Promise."

 

**Author's Note:**

> Sooo what did you guys think? Was it enjoyable? Was it interesting? Tell me <3  
> Questions about this crossover will force me to work on it faster so it that's something you'd like to see, don't hesitate. :D
> 
> You can find me on tumblr at https://domesticfluffsimulator.tumblr.com/


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